Exchange of content consumption-related information between networked devices

ABSTRACT

Content information networks may be provided that may each include a plurality of content consumption devices. One or more of the content consumption devices within a content information network may be capable of serving as a content consumption hub device that coordinates the receipt and dissemination of content consumption event information pertaining to content consumption events from and to various content consumption devices within the content information network. The content consumption hub device may further communicate, to various content consumption devices within its network, content-related information relating to content consumed on content consumption devices within its network and/or devices outside of its network. The content consumption hub device may be configured to receive content-related information from one or more content information hubs. The content consumption hub device may also receive content consumption event information from a content consumption platform.

BACKGROUND

Users may use a variety of types of devices to consume content such asaudio content, video content, textual content, or combinations thereof.In our increasingly mobile-centric world, the consumption of contentusing mobile devices in particular (e.g., smartphones, tablet devices,etc.) has become increasingly more common.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description is set forth with reference to the accompanyingdrawings. In the drawings, the left-most digit(s) of a reference numeralidentifies the drawing in which the reference numeral first appears. Theuse of the same reference numerals indicates similar or identicalcomponents; however, different reference numerals may be used toidentify similar or identical components as well. Various embodimentsmay utilize element(s) and/or component(s) other than those illustratedin the drawings and some element(s) and/or component(s) may not bepresent in various embodiments. The use of singular terminology todescribe a component or element may, depending on the context, encompassa plural number of such components or elements and vice versa.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an illustrative system architecture forfacilitating the exchange of content consumption-related informationbetween content consumption devices forming part of various contentinformation networks in accordance with one or more embodiments of thedisclosure.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram depicting illustrative data flowsbetween components of the illustrative system architecture of FIG. 1 inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a more detailed schematic block diagram depicting variousillustrative hardware and software sub-components of components of theillustrative system architecture of FIG. 1 in accordance with one ormore embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram depicting illustrative data flowsassociated with functionality supported by a content consumptionplatform in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a process flow diagram of illustrative functionality supportedby a content consumption hub device in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a process flow diagram of illustrative functionality supportedby a content consumption device in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a process flow diagram of illustrative functionality supportedby a content information hub device in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a process flow diagram of illustrative functionality supportedby a content consumption platform in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview

Embodiments of the disclosure relate to, among other things, systems,methods, computer-readable media, techniques and methodologies forfacilitating the exchange of information relating to content consumptionevents associated with one or more content consumption devices.

More specifically, in one or more embodiments of the disclosure,information (which hereinafter may be referred to as “contentconsumption event information”) that identifies one or morecharacteristics of a content consumption event associated with a contentconsumption device may be communicated from the content consumptiondevice to a content consumption hub device. The content consumptiondevice and content consumption hub device may form part of a samecontent information network. The content consumption hub device maysupport functionality for coordinating the receipt of contentconsumption event information from content consumption devices withinits own content information network (and potentially content consumptionevent information pertaining to content consumption events associatedwith content consumption devices forming part of one or more othercontent information networks) as well as the dissemination of thecontent consumption event information among content consumption deviceswithin its own content information network. In various embodiments, thecontent consumption hub device may also be a content consumption devicehaving content consumption events associated therewith.

The content consumption hub device may further support functionality forcommunicating a request to one or more content information hubs forcontent-related information associated with content identified inreceived content consumption event information. Upon receipt of thecontent-related information from the content information hub(s), thecontent consumption hub device may communicate the information to one ormore content consumption devices forming part of a same contentinformation network. Upon receiving the content-related information, anyparticular content consumption device may present at least a portion ofthe information to a user of the device based on user setting(s) and/ordevice setting(s).

In one or more additional embodiments of the disclosure, a contentconsumption hub device may communicate content consumption eventinformation received from a content consumption device to one or moreother content consumption devices within its content informationnetwork. Upon receipt of content consumption event information by acontent consumption device, the device may communicate a request for atleast a portion of the content identified in the content consumptionevent information to one or more content source servers. Additionally,or alternatively, the content consumption device may communicate arequest for content-related information relating to content identifiedin the content consumption event information to the content consumptionhub device. The content consumption hub device may, in turn, communicatea request for the content-related information to the content informationhub(s) and communicate information received therefrom to the requestingcontent consumption hub device and, optionally, one or more othercontent consumption hub devices within the content information network.

It should be noted that, throughout this disclosure, any particulardevice or component may be referred to interchangeably with or withoutinclusion of the term “content.” For example, a “content consumption hubdevice” may be referred to interchangeably as a “consumption hubdevice.” Similar alternative terminology may be used for a variety ofother devices/components discussed herein.

A content consumption event may correspond to one or more userinteractions with a consumption device which relate to content consumedor to be consumed on the consumption device. The content consumptionevent information may include any of a variety of types of informationthat identify one or more characteristics associated with a contentconsumption event. The consumption event information may include, forexample, an identifier associated with a consumption device on which thecontent is consumed or will be consumed, an identifier associated with auser, an identifier associated with a user account, and so forth. Theconsumption event information may further include information relatingto a time associated with consumption of the content as well as acontent identifier such as, for example, a digital object identifier(doi), a unique identifier associated with motion picture or televisionprogram content (e.g., an entertainment identifier registry (eidr)), orany other identifier that uniquely identifies particular content.

Still further, the consumption event information may include eventclassification information that identifies a type or classification ofthe consumption event. For example, the event classification informationmay identify one or more types of consumption events including, but notlimited to, scheduling of a recording to record and store content on aconsumption device (e.g., a digital video recorder (DVR)); consumptionof content; one or more user actions associated with user manipulationof the presentation of content on a consumption device (e.g., a pauseaction, a rewind or “go-back” action, a fast-forward or “skip-forward”action, etc.); a deletion of content; and so forth. The consumptionevent information may additionally include one or more content locationidentifiers that identify various portions of content that areassociated with the consumption event (e.g., start and end times in thecontent that are associated with the consumption event).

The content that may be consumed on a consumption device may include anysuitable content including, but not limited to, video content, audiocontent, textual content, graphical content, or any combinationsthereof. A non-exhaustive list of example types of content that may beconsumed on a consumption device may include documents, presentations,or the like that may include textual, graphical, audio, and/or videocontent; multimedia content such as movies, television shows, music,videos, etc.; interactive content such as single-user or multi-usergames (e.g., games executable on mobile devices, video games executableon gaming consoles, etc.); content-related information or content thatis related to other content that is being consumed on the sameconsumption device or a different consumption device (e.g., metadataassociated with consumed content); content that is associated with oneor more user events or requests (e.g., content requested by a user andtransmitted to a user device, points of attraction informationtransmitted to a user device based on a geographical location identifiedby a user or associated with the user device, flight informationassociated with a user's travel schedule and transmitted to a userdevice operable by the user, etc.); and so forth.

It should be appreciated that the above examples of content that may beconsumed on a consumption device, consumption events associated withcontent consumed or to be consumed on a consumption device, consumptionevent information associated with consumption events, and so forth aremerely illustrative and not exhaustive and that numerous other examplesare within the scope of this disclosure.

In accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure, one ormore content information networks may be provided, with each contentinformation network including a variety of types of consumption devices.The content information network(s) may each represent at least a partialvirtual mesh network of consumption devices. As used herein, the term“virtual mesh network” may refer to any set of one or more networks ofdevices in which any device within the set of network(s) may communicatewith one or more other devices in the network(s) according to one ormore communication technologies, and in which certain device(s) withinthe set of network(s) may communicate with certain other device(s)within the set of network(s) via one or more intermediary devices. Acontent information network may be, in various embodiments, an ad-hoc orotherwise decentralized type of wireless network that does not rely on apreexisting infrastructure (e.g., a router or access point), but rather,a network where each node (e.g., consumption device) within the networkis capable of participating in routing of data by forwarding data fromone or more nodes in the network to one or more other nodes in thenetwork. The determination as to which particular path between nodes ischosen for routing of data may be made dynamically based on networkconnectivity.

In various embodiments, a subset of the consumption devices within eachcontent information network may be capable of serving as a consumptionhub device that is configured to communicate with one or more contentinformation hubs. For ease of explanation, embodiments of the disclosuremay be described in the context of a single content information hub;however, it should be appreciated that multiple content information hubsmay be provided, with each content information hub having directconnectivity to each consumption hub device or connectivity via one ormore other content information hubs. Each consumption device within acontent information network may be capable of reporting consumptionevent information to a consumption hub device within the network.Further, the consumption hub device may itself be a consumption devicecapable of gathering consumption event information relating toconsumption events corresponding to content consumed or to be consumedon the consumption hub device.

In those embodiments in which multiple consumption devices within acontent information network each support functionality for serving as aconsumption hub device (based for example on connectivity to a contentinformation hub), one or more prioritization criteria may be used todetermine which device will act as the consumption hub device. Theprioritization criteria may include any suitable criteria including, butnot limited to, a signal strength or other metric indicative of thequality of the connection to the content information hub device, apredefined ordering that specifies an order in which devices aredesignated to serve as the consumption hub device, and so forth. Incertain embodiments, a particular consumption device within a contentinformation network may be designated to serve as a primary consumptionhub device and one or more other consumption devices within the contentinformation network may be designated to serve as standby or back-upconsumption hub devices in the event that a connection quality betweenthe primary consumption hub device and the content information hubdegrades below a threshold level or the primary consumption hub devicebecomes otherwise incapable of serving as the consumption hub device.

In one or more embodiments, a respective instance of an application maybe executable on each of the consumption devices in a contentinformation network. The application may include various program modulesthat support respective functionality for detecting consumption eventson a consumption device, gathering and communicating, to the consumptionhub device, consumption event information relating to consumption eventsdetected on the consumption device, facilitating receipt, from theconsumption hub device, of consumption event information and/or othercontent-related information associated with content consumed on otherconsumption devices (e.g., metadata associated with the consumedcontent, information identifying or otherwise pertaining to contentrelated to the consumed content, etc.), and controlling the presentationof received content-related information to a user of the contentconsumption device on which the particular instance of the applicationis executing.

Each instance of the application may further include one or more programmodules that may only be executed or executable on the consumptiondevice serving as the consumption hub device and that supportfunctionality for receiving consumption event information from otherconsumption devices within the content information network,communicating requests to the content information hub forcontent-related information (e.g., content metadata) relating to contentidentified in consumption event information received by the consumptionhub device, receiving the content-related information, and distributingthe content-related information to respective instances of theapplication executing on consumption devices within the contentinformation network. As previously described, in certain embodiments,information (e.g., consumption event information, content-relatedinformation, etc.) may be propagated from the consumption hub device toother consumption devices within the network via one or moreintermediary devices within the network.

In certain embodiments, the content information network(s) maycollectively represent part of a larger partial virtual mesh networkwhereby consumption devices forming part of one content informationnetwork may receive consumption event information and/or content-relatedinformation associated with consumption events occurring on consumptiondevices forming part of another content information network. Theconsumption hub device of a particular content information network maycoordinate the receipt of consumption event information pertaining tocontent consumed or to be consumed on consumption devices forming partof other content information network(s) and/or content-relatedinformation relating to the content identified in the consumption eventinformation, and may propagate the received forms of information toother consumption devices within the particular content informationnetwork.

As a non-limiting example, a consumption hub device of a particularcontent information network may communicate a request to the contentinformation hub for consumption event information and/or content-relatedinformation (e.g., content metadata) associated with content consumed onconsumption device(s) forming part of a different content informationnetwork. In certain embodiments, the request may be communicated inresponse to a request received from consumption device(s) within thesame content information network as the consumption hub device and/ormay be initiated independently by the consumption hub device. Therequested consumption event information and/or content-relatedinformation may have been communicated to the content information hub bya consumption hub device forming part of the different contentinformation network. In this manner, multiple content informationnetworks may form part of a virtual mesh network whereby information canbe exchanged between consumption devices in different contentinformation networks via interaction between respective consumption hubdevices of the networks and the content information hub.

Referring again to information exchange within any particular contentinformation network, the one or more communication technologiesaccording to which consumption devices within a content informationnetwork may communicate may include any suitable communication protocol,standard or technology including, but not limited to, a wireless localarea network (WLAN) communication technology (e.g., any of a variety ofInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 wirelesscommunication standards for exchanging data using radio waves as datacarriers—also known as WiFi), a personal area network (PAN)communication technology (e.g., BLUETOOTH® wireless technology forexchanging data over short distances using short-wavelength radiotransmissions), a Near Field Communication (NFC) technology forestablishing radio communication between devices by bringing the devicesinto contact or close proximity with each other, and so forth. It shouldbe appreciated that the above examples of communication technologiesthat may be utilized to enable communication between consumption devicesforming part of a content information network are merely illustrativeand that any suitable communication protocols, standards or technologiesmay be employed.

Each device within a content information network may be able tocommunicate with each other device within the network, potentially viaone or more intermediary devices within the network. As a non-limitingexample of the manner in which consumption devices may communicatewithin a content information network, a first consumption device formingpart of a content information network may communicate with one or moreother consumption devices in the same network (including a secondconsumption device) via a WiFi connection. The second consumption devicemay communicate with one or more additional consumption devices(including a third consumption device) within the network using aBLUETOOTH® connection. Accordingly, while the first consumption devicemay not be able to communicate with the third consumption devicedirectly, the devices are nonetheless able to communicate using multipledevice connections within the network that may be associated withdifferent communication technologies. More specifically, in theillustrative example above, the first consumption device may be able tocommunicate information to the third consumption device by firstcommunicating information to the second consumption device over the WiFiconnection and then instructing the second consumption device tocommunicate the information to the third consumption device over theBLUETOOTH® connection. The third consumption device may communicateinformation to the first consumption device in a similar manner.

In one or more embodiments of the disclosure, a content consumptionplatform may also be provided. The content consumption platform mayreceive consumption event information indicative of consumption eventsoccurring on consumption devices not forming part of a contentinformation network and may communicate the received consumption eventinformation to consumption hub devices of various content informationnetworks. In certain embodiments, the content consumption platform maygather or otherwise receive consumption event information from variouscontent service portals (e.g., a content delivery network (CDN), aswitched digital video (SDV) network, a web server, etc.) and may makethe information available to a consumption hub device via, for example,a pub-sub mechanism.

Upon receipt of consumption event information from the contentconsumption platform, a consumption hub device may communicate theconsumption event information to other consumption devices within thecontent information network. In certain embodiments, a consumptiondevice that receives the consumption event information, may communicatea request to the consumption hub device for content-related informationrelating to content identified in the consumption event information. Inresponse to receipt of the request, the consumption hub device mayrequest the content-related information from the content informationhub, and upon receipt, communicate the information to one or moreconsumption devices within the network. In various embodiments, theconsumption hub device may independently request content-relatedinformation relating to content identified in the consumption eventinformation from the content information hub, and upon receipt, maycommunicate the information to consumption device(s) within the contentinformation network.

Accordingly, the content consumption platform may provide a vehicle bywhich consumption devices within a content information network mayreceive consumption event information and/or content-related informationassociated with consumption events involving content consumed onconsumption devices that are not part of content information network(e.g., not capable of reporting consumption event information to aconsumption hub device). Such information may be relevant, for example,in those scenarios in which a consumption device within a contentinformation network is used to control content consumption on aconsumption device that is not within a content information network.

The content consumption platform may also be configured to communicateconsumption event information to one or more analytics platforms suchas, for example, a viewership information reporting platform, arecommendations engine, and so forth.

Various aspects of this disclosure have been described above throughreference to illustrative embodiments. These and other aspects of thedisclosure will be described in more detail through reference to theaccompanying drawings in the detailed description that follows.

Illustrative Architecture

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an illustrative system architecture 100for facilitating the exchange of content consumption-related informationbetween content consumption devices forming part of various contentinformation networks in accordance with one or more embodiments of thedisclosure.

The illustrative system architecture 100 may include one or more contentinformation networks 108(1)-108(N), which may be referred to herein attimes generically as content information network 108. As previouslydescribed, each of the content information network(s) 108(1)-108(N) mayrepresent at least a partial virtual mesh network of content consumptiondevices wherein each device within the content information network 108may communicate with one or more other devices in the network accordingto one or more communication technologies, and in which certaindevice(s) within the content information network 108 may communicatewith certain other device(s) within the network via one or moreintermediary devices. Each of the content information network(s)108(1)-108(N) may be, in various embodiments, an ad-hoc or otherwisedecentralized type of wireless network that does not rely on apreexisting infrastructure (e.g., a router or access point), but rather,where each node (e.g., content consumption device) within the network iscapable of participating in routing of data by forwarding data from oneor more nodes in the network to one or more other nodes in the network.

For example, illustrative content information networks 108(1) and 108(N)may each include a plurality of respective consumption devices 114 and116. The consumption devices 114, 116 may include any suitable deviceoperable by an end user to consume (e.g., watch, listen, read, etc.)content including, but not limited to, a desktop computer, a laptopcomputer, a smartphone device, a tablet device, an electronic reader, agaming console, a set-top box, a digital video recorder (DVR), othercustomer premises equipment, a digital music player, a television, asmart television, or any other suitable device with networkcapabilities. Each consumption device 114, 116 may be configured tocommunicate with each other consumption device within a same contentinformation network via one or more communication technologies (e.g.,WiFi, BLUETOOTH®, NFC, etc.). In certain embodiments, any particularconsumption device 114, 116 may be able to exchange information with anyother device within the same content information network notwithstandinga potential lack of direct connectivity between the devices. Forexample, information may be exchanged between any two consumptiondevices 114, 116 within a same content information network via one ormore intermediary consumption devices within the network, and theinformation exchange may potentially involve communication betweendevices in accordance with multiple different communication technologiesor standards.

In various embodiments, one or more consumption devices 114, 116 withineach content information network 108(1)-108(N) may be a contentconsumption hub device that is configured to communicate with one ormore content information hubs 102 (which may be referred to hereingenerically as content information hub 102). As illustratively depictedin FIG. 1, one or more of the content information network(s)108(1)-108(N) may include multiple consumption devices each of which iscapable of serving as a consumption hub device for the contentinformation network by virtue of direct connectivity to the contentinformation hub 102.

In those embodiments in which multiple consumption devices within acontent information network may each be able to serve as a consumptionhub device for the network, one or more prioritization criteria may beused to determine which device acts as the consumption hub device. Theprioritization criteria may include any suitable criteria including, butnot limited to, a signal strength or other metric indicative of thequality of the connection to the content information hub, a predefinedordering that specifies an order in which devices are designated toserve as the consumption hub, and so forth. In certain embodiments, aparticular consumption device within a content information network maybe designated to serve as a primary consumption hub and one or moreother consumption devices within the content information network may bedesignated to serve as standby or back-up consumption hubs in the eventthat the primary consumption hub device becomes incapable of serving asthe consumption hub device.

For example, the illustrative content information network 108(1)depicted in FIG. 1 includes a consumption device that serves as aprimary consumption hub device 110(A) and a consumption device thatserves as a standby consumption hub device 110(B). Similarly, theillustrative content information network 108(N) depicted in FIG. 1includes a consumption device that serves as a primary consumption hubdevice 112(A) and a consumption device that serves as a standbyconsumption hub device 112(B). Each of the primary consumption hubdevices 110(A), 112(A) and the standby consumption hub devices 110(B),112(B) are depicted as having direct connectivity to the contentinformation hub 102. It should be noted that the phrase “directconnectivity” as used herein (at least in the context of theconnectivity between the consumption hub devices and the contentinformation hub 102) may refer to connectivity that does not involve orrequire another consumption device as an intermediary device. The term,however, does not preclude the presence of one or more otherintermediary devices (e.g., routers, switches, etc.) that may facilitateexchange of information between the consumption hub devices and thecontent information hub 102.

As previously described, each consumption device (e.g., 114, 116) withina content information network (e.g., 108(1)-108(N)) may be capable ofreporting consumption event information to a consumption hub device(e.g., 110(A), 112(A)) within a same content information network.Further, the consumption hub device (e.g., 110(A), 112(A)) may itself bea consumption device capable of gathering consumption event informationindicative of consumption events involving content consumed or to beconsumed on the consumption hub device. The consumption hub device(e.g., 110(A), 112(B)) may be configured to communicate consumptionevent information received from a consumption device within its contentinformation network (including consumption event information pertainingto consumption events occurring with respect to the consumption hubdevice itself) to other consumption devices within the contentinformation network. The consumption hub device may be furtherconfigured to request, from the information hub device 102,content-related information (e.g., content metadata, related content,etc.) relating to content identified in received consumption eventinformation and communicate the content-related information to variousconsumption devices within its content information network. The contentmetadata may include any information relating to the content such as,for example, ratings of the content, reviews of the content, additionalinformation regarding one or more attributes of the content, and soforth.

In certain embodiments, the content information network(s) 108(1)-108(N)may collectively represent part of a larger partial virtual mesh networkwhereby a consumption hub device (e.g., 110(A)) forming part of onecontent information network (e.g., 108(1)) may receive consumption eventinformation associated with consumption events occurring on consumptiondevices forming part of another content information network (e.g.,108(N)). The consumption hub device (e.g., 110(A)) of a particularcontent information network (e.g., 108(1)) may request and receive, fromthe content information hub 102, consumption event informationpertaining to content consumed or to be consumed on consumption devices(e.g., 116) forming part of other content information networks (e.g.,108(N)) and/or content-related information relating to the contentidentified in the consumption event information, and may propagate theinformation to other consumption devices (e.g., 114) within its contentinformation network. In this manner, content-related information may beexchanged between content information networks 108(1)-108(N) via thecontent information hub 102.

The type and/or extent of consumption event information communicated bya consumption device to a corresponding consumption hub device may bedetermined based on user settings associated with an end user of thecontent consumption device. For example, in certain embodiments, an enduser may elect to restrict the sharing of consumption event informationto only certain types of content. As a non-limiting example, usersetting(s) may prohibit the communication of consumption eventinformation pertaining to content that is associated with an adultrating, content that includes confidential or private information, andso forth. As another non-limiting example, user setting(s) may designatethat consumption event information pertaining to certain content orcertain types of content should be communicated to only certaindesignated users.

In one or more embodiments of the disclosure, device setting(s)associated with a consumption device may affect what information ispresented to the user via the consumption device and/or the manner inwhich the information is presented. For example, Application ProgrammingInterfaces (APIs) available on a consumption device, processingcapabilities of the device, graphics capabilities of the device, and soforth may impose limits on the types of information capable of beingpresented by the device to the end user and/or the manner in which theinformation is presented. Further, in certain embodiments, usersetting(s) associated with an end user of a consumption device may alsoaffect the type of information presented to the end user and/or themanner of presentation. As a non-limiting example, a parental user maybe able to control the user setting(s) associated with a child user soas to permit only certain types of content-related information to bepresented to the child user. Such user setting(s) may, for example,operate in concert with setting(s) the type of content available to thechild user on the consumption device.

As previously described, content-related information relating to contentidentified in consumption event information may be received by aconsumption device and presented to an end user of the device via one ormore user interfaces rendered on the device. The content to which theinformation relates may be associated with consumption events occurringon the consumption device or consumption events occurring on one or moreother consumption devices. The received information may be presented inany suitable way in accordance with user setting(s) associated with anend user of the device and/or device setting(s) associated with thedevice. For example, the received information may be presented inconjunction with content currently being consumed on the device as anoverlay presentation, as a split-display presentation, or in any othersuitable manner.

In certain embodiments, an end user consuming content on a consumptiondevice may be presented with content-related information relating to thecontent being consumed. The information relating to the consumed contentmay be presented on the same consumption device on which the content isbeing consumed or on a different consumption device associated with theuser. As a non-limiting example, an end user watching a movie on aconsumption device may be presented with metadata relating to the moviesuch as, for example, background information relating to various castmembers, various facts or trivia information associated with the movie,and so forth.

As another non-limiting example, an end user consuming content on aconsumption device may be presented with an indication that one or moreother users of other consumption devices within the same contentinformation network and/or one or more other content informationnetworks are consuming the same or similar content.

As yet another non-limiting example, a shared content consumptionexperience may be provided to multiple users on consumption devicesforming part of the same content information network or multipledistinct content information networks. For example, an end userconsuming content on a consumption device may be presented withinteractive content allowing the user to communicate in real-time withone or more other users consuming the same or similar content. Asanother non-limiting example of a shared content consumption experience,multiple users may independently interact with at least a portion ofshared content presented on respective consumption devices as part of,for example, a multi-user game (e.g., poker, multi-player video games,multi-player mobile application games, etc.).

It should be appreciated that the above examples of user setting(s),device setting(s), information that may be presented to a user of anyparticular consumption device and which relates to consumption eventsassociated with that particular consumption device or one or more otherconsumption devices, and/or the manner in which such information may bepresented to the user are merely illustrative and not exhaustive. Itshould be appreciated that numerous other examples are within the scopeof this disclosure.

Still referring to the illustrative system architecture 100 depicted inFIG. 1, each consumption hub device (e.g., 110(A), 110(B), 112(A),112(B)) may be communicatively coupled to the content information hub102 via one or more networks 104. The network(s) 104 may include any oneor a combination of different types of suitable communications networkssuch as, for example, cable networks, public networks (e.g., theInternet), private networks, wireless networks, cellular networks, orany other suitable private and/or public networks. Further, thenetwork(s) 104 may have any suitable communication range associatedtherewith and may include, for example, global networks (e.g., theInternet), metropolitan area networks (MANs), wide area networks (WANs),local area networks (LANs), or personal area networks (PANs). Inaddition, the network(s) 104 may include any type of medium over whichnetwork traffic may be carried including, but not limited to, coaxialcable, twisted-pair wire, optical fiber, a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC)medium, microwave terrestrial transceivers, radio frequencycommunication mediums, satellite communication mediums, or anycombination thereof.

The content information hub 102 may, in turn, be communicatively coupledto one or more content information source servers 124(1)-124(R) via oneor more networks 122. The network(s) 122 may include any one or more ofthe types of networks discussed earlier through reference to thenetwork(s) 104, may have any suitable communication ranges associatedtherewith, and may carry network traffic over any suitable mediumincluding any of those discussed earlier through reference to thenetwork(s) 104. In accordance with one or more embodiments of thedisclosure, in response to a request for content-related informationreceived from a consumption hub device (e.g., 110(A)), the contentinformation hub 102 may query one or more of the content informationsource server(s) 124(1)-124(R), receive the requested informationtherefrom, and communicate the information to the requesting consumptionhub device. In certain embodiments, the requested information may becommunicated to one or more other consumption hub devices associatedwith different content information networks. The information may becommunicated to these other consumption hub devices via a “pull” or“push” mechanism.

Upon receipt of information from the content information hub 102, aconsumption hub device (e.g., 110(A)) may communicate the information toone or more other consumption devices (e.g., 114) within the samecontent information network (e.g., 108(1)). In certain embodiments, byvirtue of the mesh network configuration of the content informationnetwork, the consumption hub device may communicate the information to asubset of consumption devices within the content information networkwhich may, in turn, propagate the information to other devices withinthe content information network.

The information requested by a consumption hub device (e.g., 110(A))from the content information hub 102 may include consumption eventinformation associated with consumption events occurring on one or moreconsumption devices (e.g., 116) associated with one or more differentcontent information networks (e.g., 108(N)). Alternatively, oradditionally, the information requested by a consumption hub device mayinclude content-related information (e.g., metadata, related content,etc.) relating to content consumed on consumption devices forming partof a same content information network as the consumption hub device.Alternatively, or additionally, the information requested by aconsumption hub device may include content-related information relatingto content identified in consumption event information associated withconsumption events that occurred on consumption devices forming part ofa different content information network. It should be appreciated thatthe above examples of the types of information that may be requested bya consumption hub device from the content information hub 102 are merelyillustrative and not exhaustive and that numerous other examples arewithin the scope of this disclosure.

Still referring to FIG. 1, one or more content source servers 120 may beprovided. The content source server(s) 120 may include any suitableprocessor-driven device and may store content that may be accessed orreceived by consumption devices (e.g., 114, 116) of the contentinformation network(s) 108(1)-108(N). Consumption devices (e.g., 114,116) of various content information network(s) 108(1)-108(N) may access,retrieve or receive content from the one or more of the content sourceserver(s) 120 via one or more networks 118. While the content sourceserver(s) 120 are depicted as distinct from the network(s) 118, itshould be appreciated that, in certain embodiments, one or more of thecontent source server(s) 120 may form part of the network(s) 118.Further, while the content source server(s) 120 are depicted in theaggregate, it should be appreciated that the content source server(s)120 may be hosted by any number of different entities.

The network(s) 118 may include any suitable network via which contentmay be delivered to consumption devices. For example, the network(s) 118may include a content delivery or distribution network (CDN) that mayinclude a distributed system of servers (which may include one or moreof the content source server(s) 120) that store and serve content suchas web objects, downloadable objects, applications, live streamingmedia, on-demand streaming media, social networks, and so forth. Asanother non-limiting example, the network(s) 118 may include a switcheddigital video (SDV) network over which digital video content istransmitted to the consumption devices using any suitable datatransmission medium (e.g., optical fiber, coaxial cable, a combinationthereof, etc.). As yet another non-limiting example, the network(s) 118may include any one or more terrestrial, satellite, and/or cablenetworks. As still another non-limiting example, the network(s) 118 mayinclude any one or more public or private networks (e.g., the Internet)and the content source server(s) 120 may include one or more web serversconfigured to store and serve content to the consumption devices. As afurther non-limiting example, the network(s) 118 may include apacket-switched network (e.g., the Internet) capable of transmittingcontent (e.g., live television, time-shifted television, video on demand(VOD), etc.) in accordance with the Internet protocol suite. It shouldbe appreciate that the above examples are merely illustrative and thatthe network(s) 118 may include any suitable network(s) for deliveringany of a variety of types or forms of content to the consumption devicesof content information networks.

As depicted in FIG. 1, the illustrative system architecture 100 mayfurther include a content consumption platform 106 that may receiveconsumption event information indicative of consumption events occurringon consumption devices 126 not forming part of a content informationnetwork and may communicate the received consumption event informationto consumption hub devices (e.g., 110(A), 112(A)) of various contentinformation networks (e.g., 108(1)-108(N)) via, for example, one or moreof the network(s) 104. The content consumption platform 106 may includeany number of processor-driven devices, networking devices, and soforth.

In certain embodiments, the content consumption platform 106 may gatheror otherwise receive consumption event information from various contentservice portals (e.g., a CDN, an SDV network, one or more web servers,etc.). For example, although not depicted in FIG. 1, the contentconsumption platform 106 may be communicatively coupled to the contentsource server(s) 120 via one or more of the network(s) 118 and mayreceive consumption event information therefrom. Further, although notdepicted in FIG. 1, the content consumption devices 126 may be able toaccess, retrieve, or otherwise receive content from the content sourceserver(s) 120 via one or more of the network(s) 118.

The content consumption platform 106 may gather or otherwise receiveconsumption event information pertaining to consumption eventsassociated with the content consumption device(s) 126 in accordance withany suitable mechanism. For example, consumption event information maybe included in an Enhanced Binary Interchange Format (EBIF) resourcefile that is communicated by an EBIF agent associated with a contentconsumption device 126 to the content consumption platform 106. Itshould be appreciated that the above example is merely illustrative andthat numerous other mechanisms may be utilized for communicatingconsumption event information associated with consumption events on theconsumption devices 126 to the content consumption platform 106.

Upon receipt of consumption event information, the content consumptionplatform 106 may make the information available to a consumption hubdevice associated with a content information network based, for example,on publish-subscribe functionality. More specifically, a consumption hubdevice may transmit a subscription request to the content consumptionplatform 106 to receive notifications from the content consumptionplatform 106 associated with consumption events occurring on contentconsumption devices 126 identified in the subscription request. Uponacceptance of the subscription request, the content consumption platform106 may transmit (“publish”), to the consumption hub device, consumptionevent information pertaining to consumption events associated withcontent consumption devices 126 to which the subscription relates. Uponreceipt of consumption event information from the content consumptionplatform 106, a consumption hub device may then distribute theconsumption event information to other consumption devices within thecontent information network.

In certain embodiments, a consumption device that receives theconsumption event information transmitted to a consumption hub devicefrom the content consumption platform 106, may communicate a request tothe consumption hub device for content-related information relating tocontent identified in the consumption event information. In response toreceipt of the request, the consumption hub device may request thecontent-related information from the content information hub 102, andupon receipt, communicate the information to one or more consumptiondevices within the network. Further, in various embodiments, theconsumption hub device may independently request, from the contentinformation hub 102, content-related information relating to contentidentified in the consumption event information received from thecontent consumption platform 106, and upon receipt, may communicate thecontent-related information to consumption device(s) within the contentinformation network.

Further, in various other embodiments, the content consumption platform106 may communicate consumption event information relating toconsumption events associated with the consumption devices 126 to thecontent information hub 102 and/or the content information sourceserver(s) 124(1)-124(R) for use in servicing requests forcontent-related information from one or more consumption hub devices. Inaddition, in various embodiments, the content consumption platform 106may communicate consumption event information received from aconsumption hub device or another consumption device forming part of acontent information network to one or more of the consumption devices126 in accordance with any of the methodologies described herein.

It should be appreciated that the system architecture 100 depicted inFIG. 1 is merely illustrative and that fewer, additional, and/ordifferent components of the architecture 100 that those depicted may beprovided in one or more embodiments of the disclosure. Further, anyillustrative functionality described as being supported by a particularcomponent or set of components may, in various embodiments, be supportedat least in part by one or more other components.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram depicting illustrative data flowsbetween components of the illustrative system architecture 100 of FIG. 1in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

The content information network 108(1) is depicted as an illustrativecontent information network in FIG. 2. One or more consumption devices114 forming part of the content information network 108(1) may access,retrieve, or otherwise receive content 202 from one or more of thecontent source server(s) 120 via one or more of the network(s) 118.

One or more consumption events associated with the content 202 may occuron one or more of the consumption devices 114 in the content informationnetwork 108(1). The consumption event(s) may include any of consumptionevent types or classifications previously described. Consumption eventinformation identifying one or more characteristics of a respectivecorresponding consumption event may be communicated from the consumptiondevice with which the consumption event is associated to the consumptionhub device 110(A) of the content information network 108(1).

For example, a first consumption device in the content informationnetwork 108(1) may communicate consumption event information 204(1)pertaining to a consumption event associated with the first consumptiondevice. As described earlier and as will be described in more detailthrough reference, for example, to FIG. 3, a respective instance of acontent information sharing application executing on the firstconsumption device may detect the consumption event and gather/generatethe consumption event information 204(1) for communication to theconsumption hub device 110(A). Similarly, a second consumption device inthe content information network 108(1) may communicate consumption eventinformation 204(2) pertaining to a consumption event associated with thesecond consumption device.

The consumption hub device 110(A) (or more specifically a respectiveinstance of the content information sharing application executing on theconsumption hub device 110(A) may coordinate receipt of consumptionevent information (e.g., 204(1), 204(2)) from any of the otherconsumption devices within the content information network 108(1). Theconsumption hub device 110(A) may then communicate at least a portion ofthe consumption event information (or an indication of the contentidentified therein) along with a request for content-related informationrelating to content identified in the consumption event information tothe content information hub 102 via one or more of the network(s) 104.The request for the content-related information may be communicated bythe consumption hub device 110(A) to the content information hub 102responsive to a request received from a consumption device and/orindependently of a received request from a consumption device. Incertain embodiments, while not shown among the illustrative data flowsdepicted in FIG. 2, the consumption hub device 110(A) may communicateconsumption event information received from a consumption device (orgathered based on consumption event(s) occurring on the consumption hubdevice 110(A) itself) to one or more other consumption devices withinthe content information network 108(1). Upon receipt by a consumptiondevice of consumption event information pertaining to content consumedon another consumption, the consumption device may communicate requestto the consumption hub device for content-related information relatingto content identified in the consumption event information. Theconsumption hub device may then, in turn, communicate a request for thecontent-related information to the content information hub 102.

As previously described, the content consumption platform 106 maycommunicate, to consumption hub device(s) (e.g., 110(A)) via apublish-subscribe mechanism for example, consumption event informationpertaining to consumption events occurring on consumption devices 126that do not form part of a content information network. Such consumptiondevices 126 may not be capable of independently communicating suchinformation to a consumption hub device. The content consumptionplatform 106 may receive consumption event information identifyingconsumption events associated with the consumption devices 126 from oneor more content service portals and may communicate the consumptionevent information to those consumption hub devices that are indicated adesire to receive such information. In certain embodiments, aconsumption hub device may indicate a desire (e.g., subscribe) toreceive consumption event information pertaining to consumption eventson certain of the consumption devices 126. While not explicitly depictedin FIG. 2, consumption event information 204(3) may be communicated fromthe content consumption platform 106 to the consumption hub device110(A) for example. The consumption hub device 110(A) may communicate atleast a portion of the consumption event information (or an indicationof content identified therein) to the content information hub 102 alongwith a request for content-related information (e.g., content metadata)relating to content identified in the consumption event information. Therequest for content-related information may, in certain embodiments,include various parameters specifying the type, format, etc. of thecontent-related information that is requested. As a non-limitingexample, an illustrative request for content-related information mayspecify that only video content associated with content identified inconsumption event information is requested.

As depicted in FIG. 2, upon receipt, by the content information hub 102form the consumption hub device 110(A), of request(s) forcontent-related information relating to one or more content identifiedin consumption event information pertaining to one or more consumptionevents associated with one or more consumption devices, the contentinformation hub 102 may retrieve or request the content-relatedinformation from one or more content information source server(s)124(1)-124(R). For example, the content information hub 102 may retrieveidentifying information associated with content (e.g., a contentidentifier) from a request received from the consumption hub device110(A) and communicate the identifying information to one or more of thecontent information source server(s) 124(1)-124(R). The content sourceserver(s) 124(1)-124(R) may optionally store the requestedcontent-related information or may access the information from one ormore other data sources.

At least a portion of the content-related information 206(1)-206(R) maybe received from each of one or more of the content source server(s)124(1)-124(R) by the content information hub 102 via one or more of thenetwork(s) 122. Upon receipt, the content information hub 102 mayoptionally aggregate the received portions of the content-relatedinformation to generate aggregated content-related information 206 andcommunicate the information 206 to the requesting consumption hub device110(A). Upon receipt of the information, the consumption hub device110(A) may communicate the content-related information 206 to one ormore of the consumption devices within the content information network108(1) for potential distribution to all consumption devices within thenetwork. A respective instance of the content information sharingapplication executing on each of the consumption devices in the networkmay then present at least a portion of the content-related information206 to a user of the consumption device based on user setting(s) and/ordevice setting(s).

It should be appreciated that the data flows shown in FIG. 2 are merelyillustrative and that numerous other data flows associated with numerousother possible operating states of the system architecture 100 arewithin the scope of this disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a more detailed schematic block diagram depicting variousillustrative hardware and software sub-components of components of theillustrative system architecture 100 of FIG. 1 in accordance with one ormore embodiments of the disclosure.

An illustrative content information network 302 is depicted in FIG. 3and may correspond to any of the content information networks108(1)-108(N) depicted and described through reference to FIGS. 1-2.Various consumption devices 304 may form at least part of the contentinformation network 302 and may correspond to any of the consumptiondevices (e.g., 114, 116) previously described or depicted in FIGS. 1-2.In addition, one or more of the consumption devices 304 may be able toserve as consumption hub device for coordinating receipt of consumptionevent information from other consumption devices within the network 302as well as for communicating content-related information received fromthe content information hub 102 to the consumption devices 304. For easeexplanation, a single consumption hub device 306 is depicted in FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 additionally depicts some of the illustrative components of thearchitecture 100. For example, the network(s) 104, the contentinformation hub 102, the content consumption platform 106, theconsumption devices 126, the network(s) 122, and the content informationsource server(s) 124(1)-12(R) are illustratively depicted. Variousillustrative software, firmware, and/or hardware components of theconsumption hub device 306 and the content information hub 102 aredepicted in FIG. 3. While not shown, it should be appreciated that anyof the other illustrative components of the architecture 100 may includeany of the illustrative software, firmware, and/or hardware componentsof the consumption hub device 306 and/or the content information hub 102and/or additional or different components.

The consumption hub device 306 may include one or more memories 310(generically referred to herein as memory 310) and one or moreprocessors (processor(s)) 308 configured to execute computer-executableinstructions that may be stored in the memory 310. As previously noted,the consumption hub device 306 may itself by a consumption deviceenabling the consumption of a variety of types of content by a user andmay include, but is not limited to, a desktop computer, a laptopcomputer, a smartphone device, a tablet device, an electronic reader, agaming console, a set-top box, a digital video recorder (DVR), othercustomer premises equipment, a digital music player, a television, asmart television, or any other suitable device with networkcapabilities.

The processor(s) 308 may include any suitable processing unit capable ofaccepting digital data as input, processing the input data in accordancewith stored computer-executable instructions, and generating outputdata. The processor(s) 308 may be configured to execute thecomputer-executable instructions to cause or facilitate the performanceof various operations. The processor(s) 308 may include any type ofsuitable processing unit including, but not limited to, a centralprocessing unit, a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a ReducedInstruction Set Computer (RISC) microprocessor, a Complex InstructionSet Computer (CISC) microprocessor, an Application Specific IntegratedCircuit (ASIC), a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), aSystem-on-a-Chip (SoC), and so forth.

The memory 310 may store computer-executable instructions that areloadable and executable by the processor(s) 308 as well as datamanipulated and/or generated by the processor(s) 308 during theexecution of the computer-executable instructions. The memory 310 mayinclude volatile memory (memory that maintains its state when suppliedwith power) such as random access memory (RAM) and/or non-volatilememory (memory that maintains its state even when not supplied withpower) such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, and so forth. Invarious implementations, the memory 310 may include multiple differenttypes of memory, such as various forms of static random access memory(SRAM), various forms of dynamic random access memory (DRAM), variousforms of unalterable ROM, and/or writeable variants of ROM such aselectrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flashmemory, and so forth.

The consumption hub device 306 may further include additional datastorage 312 such as removable storage and/or non-removable storageincluding, but not limited to, magnetic storage, optical disk storage,and/or tape storage. Data storage 312 may provide storage ofcomputer-executable instructions and other data. The data storage 312may include storage that is internal and/or external to the consumptionhub device 306. The memory 310 and/or the data storage 312, removableand/or non-removable, are examples of computer-readable storage media(CRSM).

The memory 310 may store data, computer-executable instructions,applications, and/or various program modules including, for example, oneor more operating systems 318 and various applications including, forexample, a content information sharing (CIS) application 322 and otherapplication(s) 320 that may be executable on the consumption hub device306.

The operating system (O/S) 318 may provide an interface betweenapplications and/or program modules executable on the consumption hubdevice 306 (e.g., other application(s) 320, CIS application 322, etc.)and hardware resources of the consumption hub device 306. Morespecifically, the O/S 318 may include a set of computer-executableinstructions for managing hardware resources of the consumption hubdevice 306 and for providing common services to applications and/orprogram modules executable on the consumption hub device 306 (e.g.,managing memory allocation among various applications and/or programmodules). The O/S 318 may include any operating system now known orwhich may be developed in the future including, but not limited to, anydesktop or laptop operating system, any mobile operating system, or anyother proprietary or freely available operating system.

Although not depicted in FIG. 3, the memory 310 may further include oneor more database management systems (DBMS) for accessing, retrieving,storing, and/or manipulating data stored in one or more datastores thatmay be provided externally to the consumption hub device 306 or one ormore internal datastores provided, for example, as part of the datastorage 312. The internal and/or external datastore(s) may store data,program modules, and so forth (at least a subset of which may be managedby the DBMS). The DBMS may use any of a variety of database models(e.g., relational model, object model, etc.) and may support any of avariety of query languages.

The CIS application 322 may include one or more program modulesincluding computer-executable instructions that in response to executionby one or more of the processor(s) 308 cause various operations to beperformed. For example, a content consumption hub module 324, a contentconsumption management module 326, and a content metadata presentationmodule 330 (which hereinafter may be referred to as a content-relatedinformation presentation module) are illustratively depicted.

In one or more embodiments of the disclosure, a respective instance ofthe CIS application may be executable on each of the consumption devices304 in the content information network 302 including the consumption hubdevice 306. However, in certain embodiments, certain program modules maybe executed in connection with functionality supported by certaindevices. For example, computer-executable instructions provided as partof the content consumption hub module 324 may be executed on theconsumption hub device 306 to coordinate the receipt of consumptionevent information from other consumption devices in the contentinformation network, communicate requests to the content information hub102 for content-related information and/or consumption event informationassociated with other consumption devices (e.g., consumption devicesforming part of a different content information network, consumptiondevices 126, etc.), and facilitate distribution of content-relatedinformation and/or consumption event information to the consumptiondevices within its content information network.

Computer-executable instructions provided as part of the contentconsumption management module 326 may, in various embodiments, byexecuted in connection with a respective instance of the CIS application322 that is executing on each of the consumption devices 304 in thecontent information network 302. The content consumption managementmodule 326 may support functionality for detecting consumption eventsoccurring on a consumption device, gathering/generating consumptionevent information pertaining to the consumption events, andcommunicating the consumption event information to the contentconsumption hub module 324 executing on the consumption hub device 306.As previously described, the consumption management module 326 mayutilize one or more user settings 328 associated with a user profile todetermine the nature and extent of the consumption event informationthat may be shared with the consumption hub device 306, and thus, withother consumption devices within the content information network. Forexample, user setting(s) 328 associated with a user may restrictconsumption event information from being shared for certain types ofcontent consumed by the user. In certain embodiments, one or more of theuser setting(s) 328 associated with a user may be device specific. Forexample, a user may elect to share consumption event informationassociated with a wider range of content on one consumption deviceversus another.

The CIS application 322 is further illustratively depicted as includinga content-related information presentation module 330 that may includecomputer-executable instructions that when executed by one or more ofthe processor(s) 308 causes various operations associated with thepresentation of content-related information to be performed.Computer-executable instructions provided as part of the content-relatedinformation presentation module 330 may, in various embodiments, byexecuted in connection with a respective instance of the CIS application322 that is executing on each of the consumption devices 304 in thecontent information network 302. For example, computer-executableinstructions provided as part of the content-related informationpresentation module 330 may be executed to present at least a portion ofcontent-related information received by a consumption device from theconsumption hub device 306 to a user of the consumption device. Althoughnot depicted in FIG. 3, it should be appreciated that user setting(s)and/or device setting(s) may control the type and extent of thecontent-related information that is presented to a particular user of aparticular consumption device as well as, potentially, the manner ofpresentation.

It should be appreciated that the various applications, program modules,and so forth depicted as forming part of the consumption hub device (andone or more of the consumption devices) are merely illustrative and thatfewer, additional, and/or different applications, program modules, andso forth may be provided as well.

The consumption hub device 306 may further include one or more I/Ointerfaces 314 that facilitate receipt, by the consumption hub device306, of information input via one or more I/O devices associated withthe device 306 as well as the outputting of information from the device306 to the one or more I/O devices. The I/O devices may include, but arenot limited to, a display, a keypad, a keyboard, a pointing device, acontrol panel, a touch screen display, a remote control device, aspeaker, a microphone, and so forth. It should be appreciated that anyof the consumption devices 304 may include similar I/O interfaces forinteracting with similar types of I/O devices.

The consumption hub device 306 may further include one or more networkinterfaces 316 that may facilitate communication between the consumptionhub device 306 and other components of the system architecture 100 suchas, for example, other consumption devices 304, the content informationhub 102, the content consumption platform 106, and so forth. It shouldbe appreciated that any of the consumption devices 304 may includesimilar network interfaces for facilitating various forms of networkinteraction.

Various illustrative software, firmware, and/or hardware components arealso depicted as forming part of the content information hub 102. Thecontent information hub 102 may include one or more memories 334(generically referred to herein as memory 334) and one or moreprocessors (processor(s)) 332 configured to execute computer-executableinstructions that may be stored in the memory 334. The contentinformation hub 102 may include any suitable processor-driven devicewith network capabilities.

The processor(s) 332 may include any suitable processing unit capable ofaccepting digital data as input, processing the input data in accordancewith stored computer-executable instructions, and generating outputdata. The processor(s) 332 may be configured to execute thecomputer-executable instructions to cause or facilitate the performanceof various operations. The processor(s) 332 may include any type ofsuitable processing unit including, but not limited to, a centralprocessing unit, a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a ReducedInstruction Set Computer (RISC) microprocessor, a Complex InstructionSet Computer (CISC) microprocessor, an Application Specific IntegratedCircuit (ASIC), a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), aSystem-on-a-Chip (SoC), and so forth.

The memory 334 may store computer-executable instructions that areloadable and executable by the processor(s) 332 as well as datamanipulated and/or generated by the processor(s) 332 during theexecution of the computer-executable instructions. The memory 334 mayinclude volatile memory (memory that maintains its state when suppliedwith power) such as random access memory (RAM) and/or non-volatilememory (memory that maintains its state even when not supplied withpower) such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, and so forth. Invarious implementations, the memory 334 may include multiple differenttypes of memory, such as various forms of static random access memory(SRAM), various forms of dynamic random access memory (DRAM), variousforms of unalterable ROM, and/or writeable variants of ROM such aselectrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flashmemory, and so forth.

The content information hub 102 may further include additional datastorage 336 such as removable storage and/or non-removable storageincluding, but not limited to, magnetic storage, optical disk storage,and/or tape storage. Data storage 336 may provide storage ofcomputer-executable instructions and other data. The data storage 336may include storage that is internal and/or external to the contentinformation hub 102. The memory 334 and/or the data storage 336,removable and/or non-removable, are examples of computer-readablestorage media (CRSM).

The memory 334 may store data, computer-executable instructions,applications, and/or various program modules including, for example, oneor more operating systems 342, one or more database management systems(DBMS 344), and various applications including, for example, a serverapplication 346 that may include various program modules described inmore detail hereinafter.

The operating system (O/S) 342 may provide an interface betweenapplications and/or program modules executable on the contentinformation hub 102 (e.g., the server application 346, otherapplication(s), etc.) and hardware resources of the content informationhub 102. More specifically, the O/S 342 may include a set ofcomputer-executable instructions for managing hardware resources of thecontent information hub 102 and for providing common services toapplications and/or program modules executable on the contentinformation hub 102 (e.g., managing memory allocation among variousapplications and/or program modules). The O/S 342 may include anyoperating system now known or which may be developed in the futureincluding, but not limited to, any desktop or laptop operating system,any mobile operating system, any server operating system, any mainframeoperating system, or any other proprietary or freely available operatingsystem.

The memory 334 may further include DBMS 344 for accessing, retrieving,storing, and/or manipulating data stored in one or more datastores thatmay be provided externally to the content information hub 102 or one ormore internal datastores provided, for example, as part of the datastorage 336. The internal and/or external datastore(s) may store data,program modules, and so forth (at least a subset of which may be managedby the DBMS 344). The DBMS 344 may use any of a variety of databasemodels (e.g., relational model, object model, etc.) and may support anyof a variety of query languages.

The server application 346 may include one or more program modulesincluding computer-executable instructions that in response to executionby one or more of the processor(s) 332 cause various operations to beperformed. For example, the server application 346 may include a contentmetadata identification module 348 (hereinafter referred to as acontent-related information identification module) that may includecomputer-executable instructions for receiving requests from consumptionhub devices of various content information networks (e.g., consumptionhub 306 of the content information network 302), identifying contentspecified in the requests, and retrieving or requesting content-relatedinformation relating to the identified content from one or more of thecontent source server(s) 124(1)-124(R). Further, in certain embodiments,the content consumption platform 106 may communicate consumption eventinformation pertaining to consumption events associated with one or moreof the consumption devices 126 to the content information hub 102 and/orone or more of the content information source server(s) 124(1)-124(R).Such consumption event information may be used to service requestsreceived from consumption hub devices (which may in turn be tied torequests received from various consumption devices within contentinformation networks managed by the consumption hub devices) forcontent-related information relating to content associated withconsumption events to which the consumption event information relates.

The server application 346 may utilize various user profiles 350 thatmay specify various user preferences or other parameters associated withcontent-related information requested by consumption hub devices. Forexample, a request received from a consumption hub device forcontent-related information (e.g., content metadata, related content,etc.) relating to content may further include an identification of oneor more users with whom the request is associated. The serverapplication 346 may utilize the user profiles 350 to determine a type,format, and so forth of content-related information to request from oneor more of the content source server(s) 124(1)-124(R) in response to therequest received from the consumption hub device.

It should be appreciated that the various applications, program modules,and so forth depicted as forming part of the content information hub 102are merely illustrative and that fewer, additional, and/or differentapplications, program modules, and so forth may be provided as well.

The content information hub 102 may further include one or more I/Ointerfaces 338 that facilitate receipt, by the content information hub102, of information input via one or more I/O devices associated withthe content information hub 102 as well as the outputting of informationfrom the content information hub 102 to the one or more I/O devices. TheI/O devices may include, but are not limited to, a display, a keypad, akeyboard, a pointing device, a control panel, a touch screen display, aremote control device, a speaker, a microphone, and so forth.

The content information hub 102 may further include one or more networkinterfaces 340 that may facilitate communication between the contentinformation hub 102 and other components of the system architecture 100such as, for example, various consumption hub devices (e.g. consumptionhub device 306), the content consumption platform 106, the contentsource server(s) 124(1)-124(R), and so forth.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that any of thecomponents of the architecture 100 may include alternate and/oradditional hardware, software or firmware components beyond thosedescribed or depicted without departing from the scope of thedisclosure. More particularly, it should be appreciated that software,firmware or hardware components depicted as forming part of any of thecomponents of the architecture 100 are merely illustrative and that somecomponents may not be present or additional components may be providedin various embodiments. While various program modules have been depictedand described with respect to various illustrative components of thearchitecture 100, it should be appreciated that functionality describedas being supported by the program modules may be enabled by anycombination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. It should further beappreciated that each of the above-mentioned modules may, in variousembodiments, represent a logical partitioning of supportedfunctionality. This logical partitioning is depicted for ease ofexplanation of the functionality and may not be representative of thestructure of software, firmware and/or hardware for implementing thefunctionality. Accordingly, it should be appreciated that functionalitydescribed as being provided by a particular module may, in variousembodiments, be provided at least in part by one or more other modules.Further, one or more depicted modules may not be present in certainembodiments, while in other embodiments, additional modules not depictedmay be present and may support at least a portion of the describedfunctionality and/or additional functionality. Moreover, while certainmodules may be depicted and described as sub-modules of another module,in certain embodiments, such modules may be provided as independentmodules.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram depicting illustrative data flowsassociated with functionality supported by a content consumptionplatform in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

A first consumption device 402 and a second consumption device 404 areillustratively depicted in FIG. 4. The first consumption device 402 maycorrespond to one of the consumption devices 126 that may not be part ofa content information network, and thus, may not be able to communicateconsumption event information to an associated consumption hub device.The second consumption device 404 may be, for example, a consumption hubdevice forming part of a content information network or anotherconsumption device within the network.

The first consumption device 402 may communicate a request for contentto one or more content service portals 406. The content serviceportal(s) 406 may include any of those previously described including,but not limited to, a CDN, an SDV, one or more web servers, and soforth. The content service portal(s) 406 may transmit content 410 to thefirst consumption device 402 in response to the received request.

The content consumption platform 106 may be communicatively coupled tothe content service portal(s) 406 and may be configured to gather orotherwise receive consumption event information from the content serviceportal(s) 406. The content consumption platform 106 may gather orotherwise receive consumption event information pertaining toconsumption events associated with the content consumption device(s) 126in accordance with any suitable mechanism. For example, consumptionevent information may be included in an Enhanced Binary InterchangeFormat (EBIF) resource file that is communicated by an EBIF agentassociated with a content consumption device 126 to the contentconsumption platform 106 via the content service portal(s) 406. Itshould be appreciated that the above example is merely illustrative andthat numerous other mechanisms may be utilized for communicatingconsumption event information associated with consumption events on theconsumption devices 126 to the content consumption platform 106.

Upon receipt of consumption event information, the content consumptionplatform 106 may make the information available to the secondconsumption device 404 based, for example, on publish-subscribefunctionality. The publish-subscribe functionality may be implemented inaccordance with an Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP)based infrastructure and may potentially employ different messagingformats and repeaters. However, any suitable infrastructure forimplementing the publish-subscribe functionality and/or any othermechanism for communicating consumption event information may beutilized.

In one or more embodiments, the second consumption device 404 maytransmit a subscription request 414 to the content consumption platform106 to receive notifications from the content consumption platform 106associated with consumption events occurring on content consumptiondevices 126 identified in the subscription request. Upon acceptance ofthe subscription request 414, the content consumption platform 106 maytransmit (“publish”), to the second consumption device 404,notifications 416 including consumption event information pertaining toconsumption events associated with content consumption devices 126 towhich the subscription relates. Upon receipt of consumption eventinformation 416 from the content consumption platform 106, the secondconsumption device 404 may then distribute the consumption eventinformation to other consumption devices within the content informationnetwork such as in those scenarios in which the second consumptiondevice 404 is a consumption hub device.

In certain embodiments, a directed acyclic graph route (DAGR) may beused to coordinate communication between the content consumptionplatform 106 and various consumption devices including consumption hubdevices as well as other consumption devices that do not serve as hubs.The DAGR may provide a representation of an optimal route as well as oneor more backup routes between various end-points. A route table may beprovided that specifies various network distances between end-points.The network distance may be normalized and/or represented as anotherparameter (e.g., time). The DAGR may be utilized to communicateconsumption event information between consumption devices and thecontent consumption platform 106. “Keep alive” messages may be used tocontinuously validation network distances and, if necessary,re-determine network distances between end-points as networks (e.g.,content information networks) dynamically reform as consumption devicesenter and leave the networks.

Illustrative Processes

FIG. 5 is a process flow diagram of illustrative functionality supportedby a content consumption hub device in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the disclosure. One or more operations of theillustrative method 500 depicted in FIG. 5 may be performed uponexecution of computer-executable instructions provided as part of, forexample, the CIS application 322, or more specifically, the contentconsumption hub module 324 included in the CIS application 322.

At block 502, consumption event information identifying one or morecharacteristics of one or more consumption events associated with one ormore consumption devices in a content information network may bereceived. The consumption event information may be received, forexample, by a consumption hub device forming part of the contentinformation network.

At block 504, the consumption hub device that receives the consumptionevent information may communicate a request for content-relatedinformation relating to content identified in the consumption eventinformation to one or more content information hubs. The request mayinclude at least a portion of the consumption event information (e.g.,content identifiers). The request may further include an identificationof various users that have request the content-related information orfor whom the information is being requested. As previously noted, thecontent information hub may utilize user profile information to identifyvarious user preferences with respect to preferred types, formats, etc.of content. The content information hub may access or request thecontent-related information from one or more of content source servers.

At block 506, the consumption hub device may receive the content-relatedinformation from the content information hub, and at block 508, theconsumption hub device may communicate at least a respective portion ofthe content-related information to one or more consumption devices inits content information network. In certain embodiments, the consumptionhub device may facilitate communication of all of the receivedcontent-related information to each of the consumption devices withinthe content information network. As previously described, theconsumption hub device may have direct connectivity to a subset ofconsumption devices within the content information network andinformation communicated to such consumption devices may then bepropagated to other consumption devices in accordance with the meshnetwork configuration of the content information network.

It should be appreciated that the method 500 depicted in FIG. 5 ismerely illustrative and that numerous variations are within the scope ofthis disclosure. For example, in various embodiments, the consumptionhub device may request consumption event information pertaining toconsumption events associated with consumption devices forming part ofdifferent content information networks and/or consumption devices notforming part of a content information network.

FIG. 6 is a process flow diagram of illustrative functionality supportedby a content consumption device in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the disclosure. One or more operations of theillustrative method 600 depicted in FIG. 6 may be performed uponexecution of computer-executable instructions provided as part of, forexample, the CIS application 322, or more specifically, the contentconsumption management module 326 and/or the content-related informationpresentation module 330.

At block 602, a consumption device forming part of a content informationnetwork may identify a consumption event occurring or which has occurredon the consumption device. The consumption event may correspond to anyone or more user interactions involving the consumption or plannedconsumption of content on the consumption device and may include any ofthe types of consumption events previously described.

At block 604, the consumption device may gather and/or generateconsumption event information identifying one or more characteristics ofthe detected consumption event and may communicate the consumption eventinformation to a consumption hub device with which the consumptiondevice is associated (e.g., a consumption hub device within the samecontent information network). The consumption event information mayoptionally be communicated in association with a request forcontent-related information relating to content identified in theconsumption event information.

As previously described, upon receipt of the consumption eventinformation, the consumption hub device may communicate a request forcontent-related information to the content information hub which may, inturn, access or receive the content-related information from one or morecontent source serves and provide the content-related information to theconsumption hub device.

At block 606, the consumption device may receive content-relatedinformation relating to content consumed on the consumption deviceitself as well as, potentially, content-related information relating tocontent consumed on one or more other consumption devices that areeither within the same content information network, within a differentcontent information, or not within a content information network (e.g.,not within a same network as a consumption hub device).

At block 608, the consumption device may identify one or more usersettings associated with a user of the consumption device and/or one ormore device settings associated with the consumption device. At block610, at least a portion of the content-related information may bepresented to the user in accordance with the identified user setting(s)and/or device setting(s). It should be appreciated that the method 600depicted in FIG. 6 is merely illustrative and that numerous variationsare within the scope of this disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a process flow diagram of illustrative functionality supportedby a content information hub device in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the disclosure. One or more operations of theillustrative method 700 depicted in FIG. 7 may be performed uponexecution of computer-executable instructions provided as part of, forexample, the server application 346, or more specifically, thecontent-related information identification module 348.

At block 702, the content information hub may receive, from aconsumption hub device, one or more requests for content-relatedinformation relating to respective content consumed on one or more of aplurality of consumption devices. The consumption devices may includedevices that form part of a same content information network as theconsumption hub device, devices that form part of one or more differentcontent information networks, and/or devices that do not form part of acontent information network (e.g., devices that are not associated witha consumption hub device).

At block 704, the content information hub may identify the requestedcontent-related information. For example, the content information hubmay retrieve or request the content-related information from one or morecontent source servers.

At block 706, the content information hub may communicate the requestedcontent-related information to the request consumption hub device. Aspreviously described, upon receipt, the consumption hub device mayfacilitate communication of the content-related information toconsumption devices within its content information network.

It should be appreciated that the method 600 depicted in FIG. 6 ismerely illustrative and that numerous variations are within the scope ofthis disclosure. For example, the information requested by theconsumption hub device from the content information hub may beconsumption event information pertaining to consumption eventsassociated with consumption devices forming part of one or moredifferent content information networks.

FIG. 8 is a process flow diagram of illustrative functionality supportedby a content consumption platform in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the disclosure.

At block 802, a content consumption platform may receive consumptionevent information from a consumption device that identifies one or morecharacteristics of a consumption event associated with the consumptiondevice. The consumption device may be, for example, one of theconsumption devices 126 that is not part of a content informationnetwork, and thus is not capable of reporting the consumption eventinformation to a consumption hub device. In certain embodiments, theconsumption event information received at block 802 may be received viaone or more content service portal(s) in accordance with any ofillustrative mechanisms or methodologies described earlier.

At block 804, the content consumption platform may identify a contentinformation network that includes a plurality of consumption devicesother than the consumption device to which the consumption eventinformation received at block 802 pertains.

At block 806, the content consumption platform may identify asubscription associated with the content information network identifiedat block 804. More specifically, the content consumption platform mayidentify a subscription associated with a consumption hub device of thecontent information network. The subscription may identify one or moreconsumption devices for which the consumption hub device has indicated adesire to receive associated consumption event information.

At block 808, the content consumption platform may transmit theconsumption event information received at block 802 to the consumptionhub device of the identified content information network based at leastin part on the identified subscription. In this manner, the consumptionhub device is made aware of consumption event activity associated withconsumption devices that may not be able to report consumption eventactivity to associated consumption hub devices and which, as a result,are not able to communicate such consumption event activity to thecontent information hub for communication to the consumption hub device.

The operations described and depicted in the illustrative methods 500,600, 700 and 800 of FIGS. 5-8 may be carried out or performed in anysuitable order as desired in various embodiments of the disclosure.Additionally, in certain embodiments, at least a portion of theoperations may be carried out in parallel. Furthermore, in certainembodiments, less, more, or different operations than those depicted inFIGS. 5-8 may be performed.

Although specific embodiments of the disclosure have been described, oneof ordinary skill in the art will recognize that numerous othermodifications and alternative embodiments are within the scope of thedisclosure. For example, any of the functionality and/or processingcapabilities described with respect to a particular device or componentmay be performed by any other device or component. Further, althoughspecific example embodiments have been presented, it should beappreciated that numerous other examples are within the scope of thisdisclosure.

Additional types of CRSM beyond those described previously that may bepresent in association with any of the components described herein(e.g., any of the components of the networked architecture 100) mayinclude, but are not limited to, programmable random access memory(PRAM), SRAM, DRAM, RAM, ROM, electrically erasable programmableread-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology,compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital versatile disc (DVD) orother optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic diskstorage or other magnetic storage devices, solid-state memory devices,or any other medium. Combinations of any of the above are also includedwithin the scope of CRSM.

Computer-readable communication media may include computer-readableinstructions, program modules, or other data transmitted within a datasignal, such as a carrier wave, or other transmission. Examples ofcomputer-readable communication media, whether modulated using a carrieror not, include, but are not limited to, signals that a computer systemor machine hosting or running a computer program can be configured toaccess, including signals downloaded through the Internet or othernetworks. For example, the distribution of software may be an Internetdownload. It is noted that, as used herein, CRSM does not includecomputer-readable communication media.

Although embodiments have been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the disclosure is not necessarily limited to the specific featuresor acts described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosedas illustrative forms of embodiments of the disclosure. Conditionallanguage such as, for example, “can,” “could,” “might,” or “may,” unlessspecifically stated otherwise, or unless otherwise understood within thecontext as used, is generally intended to convey that certainembodiments include, while other embodiments do not include, certainfeatures, elements, and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is notgenerally intended to imply that features, elements, and/or steps are inany way required for one or more embodiments or that one or moreembodiments necessarily include logic for deciding, with or without userinput or prompting, whether these features, elements, and/or steps areincluded or are to be performed in any particular embodiment.

That which is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: receiving, by acontent consumption hub device comprising one or more processors, from acontent consumption device, content consumption event informationidentifying one or more characteristics of a content consumption eventassociated with the content consumption device; communicating, by thecontent consumption hub device to one or more content information hubsand based at least in part on the content consumption event information,a request for information associated with content identified in thecontent consumption event information; receiving, by the contentconsumption hub device from the one or more content information hubs,the information associated with the content; and communicating, by thecontent consumption hub device to the content consumption device, theinformation associated with the content.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the information associated with the content comprises metadataassociated with the content.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein theinformation associated with the content comprises a link to othercontent related to the content.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein thecontent consumption hub device and the content consumption device format least part of a virtual network, and wherein at least one of: i) thecontent consumption event information is received by the contentconsumption hub device from the content consumption device via one ormore additional content consumption devices forming at least part of thevirtual network, or ii) the content consumption event information iscommunicated by the content consumption hub device to the contentconsumption device via the one or more additional content consumptiondevices.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the content consumptiondevice is a first content consumption device, the content consumptionevent information is first content consumption event information, thecontent consumption event is a first content consumption event, thecontent identified in the first content consumption event is firstcontent, and the information associated with the first content is firstinformation, the method further comprising: receiving, by the contentconsumption hub device from a second content consumption device, secondcontent consumption event information identifying one or morecharacteristics of a second content consumption event associated withthe second content consumption device; communicating, by the contentconsumption hub device to the one or more content information hubs andbased at least in part on the second content consumption eventinformation, a request for second information associated with secondcontent identified in the second content consumption event information;receiving, by the content consumption hub device from the one or morecontent information hubs, the second information; and communicating, bythe content consumption hub device to the second content consumptiondevice, the second information.
 6. The method of claim 5, furthercomprising at least one of: communicating, by the content consumptionhub device to the first content consumption device, at least one of: i)the second content consumption event information or ii) the secondinformation, or communicating, by the content consumption hub device tothe second content consumption device, at least one of: i) the firstcontent consumption event information or ii) the first information. 7.The method of claim 5, wherein the first content consumption device, thesecond content consumption device, and the content consumption hubdevice form at least part of a virtual network.
 8. The method of claim7, wherein the request is a first request, and wherein the virtualnetwork is a first virtual network, further comprising: communicating,by the content consumption hub device to the one or more contentinformation hubs, a second request for information associated with thirdcontent consumed on one or more content consumption devices associatedwith a second virtual network; receiving, by the content consumption hubdevice from the one or more content information hubs, the informationassociated with the third content; and communicating, by the contentconsumption hub device to at least one of: i) the first contentconsumption device or ii) the second content consumption device, theinformation associated with the third content.
 9. The method of claim 7,wherein the virtual network comprises a plurality of communication linksassociated with a plurality of communication standards.
 10. A contentconsumption hub device, comprising: at least one memory storingcomputer-executable instructions; and at least one processor configuredto access the at least one memory and to execute the computer-executableinstructions to: receive, from a content consumption device, contentconsumption event information identifying one or more characteristics ofa content consumption event associated with the content consumptiondevice; communicate, to one or more content information hubs and basedat least in part on the content consumption event information, a requestfor information associated with content identified in the contentconsumption event information; receive, from the one or more contentinformation hubs, the information associated with the content; andcommunicate, to the content consumption device, the informationassociated with the content.
 11. The content consumption hub device ofclaim 10, wherein the information associated with the content comprisesat least one of: i) metadata associated with the content, or ii) link toother content related to the content.
 12. The content consumption hubdevice of claim 10, wherein the content consumption hub device and thecontent consumption device form at least part of a virtual network, andwherein at least one of: i) the content consumption event information isreceived by the content consumption hub device from the contentconsumption device via one or more additional content consumptiondevices forming at least part of the virtual network, or ii) the contentconsumption event information is communicated by the content consumptionhub device to the content consumption device via the one or moreadditional content consumption devices.
 13. The content consumption hubdevice of claim 10, wherein the content consumption device is a firstcontent consumption device, the content consumption event information isfirst content consumption event information, the content consumptionevent is a first content consumption event, the content identified inthe first content consumption event is first content, and theinformation associated with the first content is first information, andwherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute thecomputer-executable instructions to: receive, from a second contentconsumption device, second content consumption event informationidentifying one or more characteristics of a second content consumptionevent associated with the second content consumption device;communicate, to the one or more content information hubs and based atleast in part on the second content consumption event information, arequest for second information associated with second content identifiedin the second content consumption event information; receive, from theone or more content information hubs, the second information; andcommunicate, to the second content consumption device, the secondinformation.
 14. The content consumption hub device of claim 13, whereinthe at least one processor is further configured to execute thecomputer-executable instructions to perform at least one of:communicate, to the first content consumption device, at least one of:i) the second content consumption event information or ii) the secondinformation, or communicate, to the second content consumption device,at least one of: i) the first content consumption event information orii) the first information.
 15. The content consumption hub device ofclaim 13, wherein the first content consumption device, the secondcontent consumption device, and the content consumption hub device format least part of a virtual network.
 16. The content consumption hubdevice of claim 15, wherein the request is a first request, and whereinthe virtual network is a first virtual network, further comprising:communicating, by the content consumption hub device to the one or morecontent information hubs, a second request for information associatedwith third content consumed on one or more content consumption devicesassociated with a second virtual network; receiving, by the contentconsumption hub device from the one or more content information hubs,the information associated with the third content; and communicating, bythe content consumption hub device to at least one of: i) the firstcontent consumption device or ii) the second content consumption device,the information associated with the third content.
 17. A method,comprising: identifying, by a content consumption device comprising oneor more processors, a content consumption event associated with thecontent consumption device; generating, by the content consumptiondevice, content consumption event information identifying one or morecharacteristics of the content consumption event; communicating, by thecontent consumption device to a content consumption hub device, thecontent consumption event information; receiving, by the contentconsumption device from the content consumption hub device, informationassociated with content identified in the content consumption eventinformation; and presenting, by the content consumption device, at leasta portion of the information associated with the content to a user ofthe content consumption device.
 18. The method of claim 17, whereinpresenting at least a portion of the information associated with thecontent to the user comprises: presenting, by the content consumptiondevice, the at least a portion of the information associated with thecontent concurrently with a presentation of the content.
 19. The methodof claim 17, wherein generating the content consumption eventinformation comprises: generating, by the content consumption device,the content consumption event information based at least in part on oneor more user settings associated with the user of the contentconsumption device.
 20. The method of claim 17, wherein the at least aportion of the information associated with the content is presented tothe user based at least in part on at least one of: i) one or more usersettings associated with the user of the content consumption device, orii) device capabilities associated with the content consumption device.21. The method of claim 17, wherein the information associated with thecontent comprises at least one of: i) metadata associated with thecontent, ii) other content relating to the content, or iii) anindication of content being consumed on one or more other contentconsumption devices.
 22. The method of claim 17, wherein the contentconsumption device is a first content consumption device, furthercomprising: receiving, by the first content consumption device from thecontent consumption hub device, information associated with additionalcontent consumed on a second content consumption device; and presenting,by the content consumption device, at least a portion of the informationassociated with the additional content to the user of the first contentconsumption device.
 23. The method of claim 22, wherein the contentconsumption event is a first content consumption event, the contentconsumption event information is first content consumption eventinformation, and the content identified in the first content consumptionevent information is first content, and wherein the informationassociated with the additional content comprises at least one of: i)second content consumption event information identifying one or morecharacteristics of a second content consumption event associated withthe second content consumption device, or ii) information associatedwith second content identified in the second content consumption eventinformation.
 24. The method of claim 22, wherein the second contentconsumption device forms at least part of a same virtual network as thefirst content consumption device and the content consumption hub device.25. The method of claim 22, wherein the first content consumption deviceand the content consumption hub device form at least part of a firstvirtual network, and wherein the second content consumption device formsat least part of a second virtual network different from the firstvirtual network.
 26. A content consumption device, comprising: at leastone memory storing computer-executable instructions; and at least oneprocessor configured to access the at least memory and to execute thecomputer-executable instructions to: identify a content consumptionevent associated with the content consumption device; generate contentconsumption event information identifying one or more characteristics ofthe content consumption event; communicate, to a content consumption hubdevice, the content consumption event information; receive, from thecontent consumption hub device, information associated with contentidentified in the content consumption event information; and present atleast a portion of the information associated with the content to a userof the content consumption device.
 27. The content consumption device ofclaim 26, wherein, to present the at least a portion of the informationassociated with the content, the at least one processing is configuredto execute the computer-executable instructions to: present the at leasta portion of the information associated with the content concurrentlywith a presentation of the content.
 28. The content consumption deviceof claim 26, wherein the at least one processor is further configured toexecute the computer-executable instructions to: generate the contentconsumption event information based at least in part on one or more usersettings associated with the user of the content consumption device. 29.The content consumption device of claim 26, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to execute the computer-executableinstructions to: identify one or more user settings associated with theuser of the content consumption device; identify device capabilitiesassociated with the content consumption device; and present the at leasta portion of the information associated with the content to the userbased at least in part on at least one of: i) the one or more usersettings or ii) the device capabilities.
 30. The content consumptiondevice of claim 26, wherein the content consumption device is a firstcontent consumption device, and wherein the at least one processor isfurther configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:receive, from the content consumption hub device, information associatedwith additional content consumed on a second content consumption device;and present at least a portion of the information associated with theadditional content to the user of the first content consumption device.31. The method of claim 30, wherein the content consumption event is afirst content consumption event, the content consumption eventinformation is first content consumption event information, and thecontent identified in the first content consumption event information isfirst content, and wherein the information associated with theadditional content comprises at least one of: i) second contentconsumption event information identifying one or more characteristics ofa second content consumption event associated with the second contentconsumption device, or ii) information associated with second contentidentified in the second content consumption event information.
 32. Themethod of claim 30, wherein the second content consumption device formsat least part of a same virtual network as the first content consumptiondevice and the content consumption hub device.
 33. The method of claim30, wherein the first content consumption device and the contentconsumption hub device form at least part of a first virtual network,and wherein the second content consumption device forms at least part ofa second virtual network different from the first virtual network.
 34. Acontent information network, comprising: a plurality of contentconsumption devices, wherein at least one of the content consumptiondevices is a content consumption hub device, and wherein the contentconsumption hub device comprises: at least one memory storingcomputer-executable instructions; and at least one processor configuredto access the at least one memory and to execute the computer-executableinstructions to: identify content consumption event informationidentifying one or more characteristics of a content consumption eventassociated with a content consumption device of the plurality of contentconsumption devices; communicate, to one or more content informationhubs and based at least in part on the content consumption eventinformation, a request for information associated with contentidentified in the content consumption event information; receive, fromthe one or more content information hubs, the information associatedwith the content; and communicate, to one or more of the plurality ofcontent consumption devices, the information associated with thecontent.